Ed Schuller
American musician

Edwin Gunther Schuller (January 11, 1955) is an American jazz bassist and composer. His father is Gunther Schuller, a composer, horn player, and music professor, and his younger brother is drummer George Schuller.
Career
A native of New York City, Schuller learned clarinet and guitar as a child. He switched to double bass at age 15, and the same year he had his first professional appearances with Ricky Ford. He studied at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Schuller has played with Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Ted Curson, Dave Liebman, Abbey Rader, Jimmy Knepper, Clark Terry, Ran Blake, Paul McCandless, Billy Hart, Mat Maneri, Marty Ehrlich, and Roland Hanna, and has toured with Lovano, Paul Motian, Tim Berne, Jim Pepper, Pat Martino, Mal Waldron, Uli Lenz, Karl Berger, Gerry Hemingway, Marty Cook, Nicolas Simian, Perry Robinson, Barry Miles, Terry Silverlight, and Jaki Byard. He has played on over 60 recordings and been a member of numerous collective ensembles, including the ensemble that recorded Charles Mingus's Epitaph in 1990.
Schuller has taught at the Newark Academy and at Berklee College of Music, and was the head of the jazz department at Schweitzer Institute of Music in Idaho from 1988.
Discography
As leader
Conspiracy (EmArcy, 1983)
The Eleventh Hour (Enja/Tutu, 1993)
To Know Where One Is (GM, 1995)
Mu-Point (Tutu, 1996)
Snake Dancing (Tutu, 1996)
Force (Tutu, 1996)
Art of the Duo (Tutu, 2001)
Ong Song: Music for Acoustic Bass (GM, 2002)
As It Grows (Hathut, 2004)
As sideman
With Franco Ambrosetti
Music for Symphony and Jazz Band (Enja, 1991)
With Tim Berne
Spectres (Empire, 1981)
Songs and Rituals in Real Time, Empire, 1982)
The Ancestors (Soul Note, 1983)
Mutant Variations (Soul Note, 1984)
With Anat Fort
A Long Story (ECM, 2007)
With Paul Grabowsky
Tales of Time and Space (Sanctuary, 2005)
With Russ Lossing
Dreamer (Double-Time, 2000)
As It Grows (HatOLOGY, 2002)
With Uli Lenz
Echoes of Mandela (Tutu, 1997)
Good-bye Venus (Tutu, 2007)
With Joe Lovano
Rush Hour (Blue Note, 1994)
With Joe Maneri
Tenderly (hatOLOGY, 1993 [1999])
Coming Down the Mountain (hatOLOGY, 1993 [1997])
With Paul Motian
Psalm (ECM, 1982)
The Story of Maryam (Soul Note, 1984)
Jack of Clubs (Soul Note, 1985)
Misterioso (Soul Note, 1987)
With Night Ark
Treasures (Traditional Crossroads, 2000)
With Jim Pepper
Comin' and Goin' (Europa, 1983)
With Herb Robertson
Certified (JMT, 1991)
With Mal Waldron
Mal, Dance and Soul (Tutu, 1988)
Quadrologue at Utopia (Tutu, 1989)
More Git' Go at Utopia (Tutu, 1989)
Mal, Verve, Black & Blue (Tutu, 1994)
With Tom Varner
Motion/Stillness (Soul Note, 1982)
References
Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford, 1999, pp.
The public source identifies “Ed Schuller” as american musician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Schuller, American and musician.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ed Schuller”, the useful work is to connect “american musician” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 22, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1282491. VIAF identifies the subject as 34649322. The Library of Congress control number is n82113498. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1955, 1990, 1988 and 1983.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ed Schuller”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ed Schuller primary sources, Ed Schuller archive and Schuller research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ed Schuller”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ed Schuller” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.